Landing Among the Stars
by Synaps
Summary: A new portal expert is brought in from Area 51 to help out at SGC. Jack isn't sure what to think when he's stuck showing the newbie around the base. Well, at least it isn't McKay.
1. Landing Among the Stars

**Landing Among the Stars**

Colonel Jack O'Neill wasn't overly fond of scientists in general. Sure, a few of his closest friends were scientists, but in general the profession seemed to attract either the arrogantly intelligent or the awkwardly distracted. The difference between the two was easy to tell; one of them used words Jack didn't understand to make him feel stupid on purpose, and one simply forgot that he didn't have the same education that they did.

As such, it wasn't with any great enthusiasm as he awaited the newest member of the SGC. General Hammond had known that. Jack getting stuck with the job of showing the newbie around was meant as a punishment for back-talking one of the Tok'ra. He still thought it had been worth it.

To top it off, it was a dreary day. The clouds were touching the top of the mountain and the air felt heavy with unfallen rain. Jack hoped that the scientist would get there before it started raining.

Luck was with him, it seemed, because a white SUV rolled into the base and parked close to Jack's silent watch. The passenger exited the vehicle and walked over to Jack as the car left the base.

"Doctor Fenton?"

The man smiled and nodded. Jack automatically assessed him as a threat. Tall and skinny, with some hints of muscle. He probably worked out. His unkempt hairstyle wouldn't have been acceptable in the military, but the scientists were generally civilian. He wore a strange metal collar that looked like it was some sort of alien device, but Jack never did understand the fashions of today's youth.

"Call me Danny, please. Or even just Fenton. Doctor Fenton is my mom. And my dad. And my sister."

"We've already got a Danny."

"Then Fenton it is."

Jack waved for Fenton to follow him as they entered Cheyenne Mountain.

"Who was your lift?" Jack nodded towards the leaving car.

"Just someone from Area 51. He wanted to make sure I got here safely."

The way Fenton said it made Jack suspect it was less about care and more about control. Well, Area 51 people had always been strange.

"I'd think you'd be happy to see me." Fenton must have picked up on Jack's attitude, because he added the comment with a smug look on his face.

"We've got plenty of scientists already, you're not that special."

"Well, you see... I stole this job from Doctor McKay."

Jack couldn't stop himself from making a face at the name, which caused Fenton to smirk even wider.

"Yeah, yeah." Jack brushed it off. "You got me on that one."

The elevator ride was long, as they usually were when you needed to go 20 or so floors down. Fenton spent the time distractedly picking at his collar, realising what he was doing and forcefully moving his hand away, only to start the cycle again as he got lost in thought.

Jack watched with badly hidden interest. "What's that?"

"What's what?"

"That thing around your neck. It's some sort of tech, right?"

Fenton looked uncomfortable for a second, before shrugging in an overly casual manner. "Yeah, it's an Area 51 thing. Need to know basis only."

Jack cocked an eyebrow, because he had the clearance to know pretty much everything, but let it go.

The elevator finally stopped and Jack was thankful as Carter noticed them and came over. Hopefully she'd be able to lift the weird mood that had started when he'd brought up the collar. Besides, she'd actually _like_ talking to another scientist.

"Welcome, I'm Major Samantha Carter."

"Doctor Daniel Fenton."

Carter nodded, like the name was familiar. "Expert on portals, right?"

"Transdimensional portals, so the one in _your_ basement is a little bit outside my area of expertise." The way Fenton put weight on the word 'your' made Jack wonder what things were hidden in the basement in Area 51.

"Yes, I heard you got to work with the mirror we found. You've been holed up in Area 51 with it for a while now."

"Yeah, haha." He didn't laugh, but rather said 'haha' out loud. "They did _not_ want to let me out of there." Fenton was looking a bit embarrassed. Or was he ashamed? His hand was at the back of his neck. "I guess I'm just popular." His smile morphed into a more genuine one. "It _did_ give me opportunity to check out some of your work though, doctor Carter. There's some very interesting stuff you've got going here."

"You've been reading my reports?"

"Just the ones that sounded interesting. Time travel, alternate dimensions, that sort of thing. Makes me nostalgic."

"Sci-fi fan?" Jack raised a single eyebrow as he joined the conversation.

"I guess."

The three of them walked around the complex, pointing out important things that the newbie needed to know. Fenton had been given an on-base room to live in, which wasn't entirely uncommon. Most people preferred to get their own place off-base, but many didn't stay long enough to justify it.

Fenton dropped his single duffel-bag inside his room before they continued. Jack thought it looked a bit too small. Travelling lightly was one thing, _living_ lightly was another, and he wasn't sure yet which applied to Fenton.

"Last stop of the tour, kiddos." Jack smiled as he turned to enter the gate room. "This... is what all the fuzz is about."

"So this is the Stargate." Fenton eagerly walked forward, his eyes almost _hungry_. "I didn't think it would be so big. How much power does it use?"

Carter answered, and Fenton frowned. They got into some sort of discussion about it, which Jack tuned out. He'd only get a headache trying to understand it.

* * *

The next time Jack saw Fenton, the young scientist was working on something in Carter's work room. True to form, Jack barged into the room without paying attention to the scattered papers and miscellaneous electronics.

"Somebody is pushing hard for you to go off-world." Jack sent the frank comment at Fenton without a word of greeting.

"There's no point in me being here if I don't."

"Somebody with _connections."_ Jack didn't trust connections.

"Yeah, who?" Fenton was eyeing a screwdriver, seemingly deep in thought.

"A Colonel Tom Fine."

Confusion flashed across Fenton's face before being replaced by a pleased smile. He chuckled to himself, but didn't seem inclined to share the joke.

Jack still tried. "What?"

"That's T.F. as in Tom Fine." Fenton raised his eyebrows and distorted his voice as he did an impression, but Jack still didn't see what was so funny about it. Maybe you needed to know the guy.

"Friend of yours?"

Fenton smiled, but looked unbelievably tired. "The best I've ever had. He's the one who had me transferred here, if he's pushing it's only because he doesn't want the trip to go to waste. He's risking a lot on my success."

Jack didn't care about the political playing field, but he could understand it well enough. This sounded like just the sort of move a politician would make to get ahead. Not a colonel.

"Your friend wants to get into politics?"

"In a different life he would have made a good one. Small town politics might have suited him... Maybe mayor."

Fenton popped open a panel on his weird metal collar and did something with the screwdriver. "That's better." The words were a sort of relieved sigh.

"Really? All the lights went out, I think you broke it."

"No, no, no. Those were warning lights, it broke earlier... has been electrocuting me for a while now."

Jack could believe it. Fenton had the sort of look in his eye of somebody who'd suddenly been relieved of his pain.

* * *

Jack was geared up, standing with the rest of SG-1 as the small group of scientists prepared themselves. Fenton was among them, he noted with surprise. He'd heard from Doctor Frasier that there had been some mix-up with the routine check-ups before departure, Fenton hadn't had time to actually take part in one. Whoever this Colonel Fine was, he was a force to be reckoned with if he could have them ignore standard medical procedure.

Or maybe Fenton had his check-up _after_ Jack talked to Janet. That was also a possibility.

As always, the group of civilians was disorganized. Nobody was where they were supposed to be and everybody's emotions were visible on their faces. SG-1 had no such issues.

After much more fuzz than was strictly necessary, Walter locked the last chevron.

The light blue shine of the Stargate was familiar, so Jack let his eyes wander to the new scientist again. Newbies always had funny reactions to the portal.

Fenton was some sort of weird exception to that rule. There was no surprise or shock, but rather a certain fond... longing?

Jack frowned.

They started walking towards the portal, Jack let the wide-eyed scientist walk ahead of him. Fenton's eyes were stuck to the blue glow like glue. Jack was just about to step up next to him and say something sarcastic when the door in the control room was pulled open aggressively. The heavy metal hit the concrete wall with an audible clang.

"Stop him!"

Jack looked up at the control room. A tall muscular man clad in a pristine white suit was shouting orders.

Fenton turned around, managing to twist it into a sardonic bow. "Agent L, I was wondering when you'd show up." His smile widened. "You're a bit too late, I'm afraid." He gestured towards the glowing Stargate, even as the iris closed over it. Something about him reminded Jack of a magician. Soon he'd pull a stack of cards out of his sleeve and ask them to 'pick a card, any card'.

Agent L started shouting for them to turn of the power to the portal.

"As you can see, I'll be off now. Don't do anything stupid while I'm gone." Fenton paused "That makes it sound like I'm coming back. Well, you know what I mean. Bye." His smile was more genuine than anything Jack had seen on his face before. It seemed like at least one ace was still hidden in that sleeve of his. 'And for my next trick...'

He stepped _through_ the iris.

Jack could only stare as Fenton walked straight through the metal, as if it hadn't been there at all. The only thing that was left of him was that silly collar, which unceremoniously landed on the ramp. Jack couldn't pull his gaze from the contraption. A single led light on it was blinking green.


	2. The Other Side of the Moon

**AN:** Since the original one-shot was written completely in O'Neill's POV, not everything was as clear as it could have been. As an added bonus, I forgot that inhibitor collars are just a D **C** thing. (I've been working on a Young Justice/Danny Phantom crossover and I blame that.)

Also, pretty much every single reviewer has asked for more and I'm a huge push-over.

In case you don't remember from last chapter, Tom Fine is a pseudonym Tucker uses. O'Neill thinks Fine works for Area 51. **This takes place before the first chapter.**

* * *

 **The Other Side of the Moon**

Colonel Tom Fine.

The name wasn't familiar, but Agent L didn't expect it to be.

The white-clad agent looked down at the e-mail. Even as the GIW had carved themselves a place in Area 51, it was rare for them to be contacted by a member of Stargate Command. Even when they worked closely, the GIW didn't get the respect they deserved. Sometimes he suspected they didn't even _know_ how big a threat the ectoplasmic entities posed.

He frowned as he read the odd e-mail. It was a request to borrow GIW property.

Normally, Agent L would feel justified at shutting down the request without even reading it... but something in the wording stopped him. There was some level of _respect_ there, the mail was positively peppered with it. Besides, this was _SGC._ They protected humanity from alien threats, just like the GIW protected them from ghost scum. Maybe this Colonel Fine understood that much, even when his colleagues didn't.

Agent L nodded to himself, that would explain it.

Looking closer, Agent L found the _reason_ for the request.

A smile worked its way to his lips. Nobody would call it a _nice_ smile. His lips thinned and he bared his teeth in a way reminiscent of a predator spotting prey.

The request was made so that Stargate personnel could get more experience dissecting alien life-forms.

Something like that, he could grant... Provided the GIW got their property back at the end of it. He'd need to provide instructions on how to patch Phantom up when they were done with the ghost. It wouldn't do for their one _live_ specimen to lose its uniqueness.

Agent L leaned back in his chair as he started formulating his reply.

" _Don't be fooled by its human appearance"_ , he wrote. _"Any empathy you may feel for it is wasted, as it cannot return the emotion."_

That was the most important thing.

He quickly typed down the second most important one.

" _Its collar, henceforth the_ Plasmius Maximus 2.0, _is a delicate piece of machinery and must not be tampered with under any circumstances. I hope you understand that, as such, you cannot dissect the ghost's vocal chords."_

It was a shame, really. Phantom had such interesting vocal chords, as evident by his strongest attack. However, it was to keep him from using things like his Ghostly Wail that the collar had been created. Agent L wasn't sure of where the original blueprints had come from, but their modified version had been the pet-project of a scientist he'd worked with once.

" _I will require that a GIW agent accompanies the specimen at all times, for your safety."_

After adding anything else he could think of, even going so far as to take up his rulebook and leafing through it for inspiration, Agent L sent the e-mail.

It felt strangely satisfying.

* * *

The next day, Agent L sat down in his office and opened his e-mail. He wasn't expecting a reply so soon, but it didn't hurt to check.

Agent L was pleasantly surprised to find a new mail from Colonel Fine.

The language was to the point, military-like. Agent L found himself liking the Colonel more and more.

His appreciation disappeared as he finished reading.

" _We cannot allow non-SGC personnel on-base. You do not have the clearance."_

Agent L snapped the pen he'd been holding, staining his hands with blue ink.

For a moment he panicked, trying to keep the liquid away from his suit. A napkin found its way into his hands and he meticulously scrubbed at the stains.

He exhaled slowly as he confirmed that his suit remained pristinely white.

Agent L allowed himself a second's pause to calm himself before re-reading the e-mail.

As he looked at it with fresh eyes, he could tell that the tone was apologetic. Colonel Fine understood that it was a fundamentally stupid request, but was as strangled by the red tape as any government agent.

Agent L thought about it. His half-finished rejection died in his mind before he could type it out.

He'd trust Colonel Fine to follow his instructions.

* * *

 **AN** : Tucker uses flattery, it's super effective.


End file.
